Arms Talks Draw Blank

No Gains, Shultz Says

November 06, 1985|By Thom Shanker and Terry Atlas, Chicago Tribune.

MOSCOW — After four hours of ``vigorous discussion`` Tuesday with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Secretary of State George Shultz all but ruled out a general U.S.-Soviet agreement on arms control at the Geneva summit in two weeks.

Concluding two days of intensive pre-summit consultations with Soviet officials, Shultz said there had been ``no narrowing`` of differences on key arms-control issues, the centerpiece of the Nov. 19-20 summit.

The Kremlin session with Gorbachev, part of 14 hours spent in discussions here, were frank and ``the atmosphere was cordial,`` Shultz said.

The talks ``covered everything,`` Shultz said. ``There is hardly a subject you can think of that wasn`t somehow referred to or touched on.``

Shultz, the first U.S. secretary of state in seven years to visit Moscow for a substantive working session, met Gorbachev once before, at the funeral of Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko last march.

The new visit was part of continuing efforts by both superpowers to plan an agenda for the summit, and to seek possible accords to be produced at the meeting.

One possibility mentioned is an ``agreement in principle`` on arms control. Such a communique would serve as a guide and impulse for U.S. and Soviet negotiators in Geneva discussing intercontinental, intermediate-range and space weapons.

Administration officials have warned against expecting major breakthroughs at the summit, saying the time is too short and differences too great to reach substantial agreements during the two-day meeting.

However, it was clear from Shultz`s statement, given in the U.S. ambassador`s residence prior to departing Moscow, that he and Gorbachev disagreed on important issues they discussed.

Shultz went so far as to concede that the two men engaged in active debate.

``He`s accustomed to interrupting, expressing a view,`` Shultz said of the Soviet leader. ``So, when in Moscow, do as those in Moscow do. We interrupted, too.``

Even a heated dialogue is better than not communicating, Shultz said, adding, ``We had a very vigorous exchange and I think it is helpful to both of us to get a sense of the way each thinks about these issues.``

Shultz said the atmosphere of his unusually long session with Gorbachev

``was far from a shouting match,`` and may have narrowed differences slightly in some areas of dispute.

``I don`t want to overdo the narrowing of issues,`` he cautioned. At another point in the briefing he added, ``There was no narrowing with respect to those nuclear and space issues.``

The official Soviet news agency Tass said the meeting ``passed in a frank and businesslike atmosphere,`` which diplomats said is one of the sterner phrasings available to describe official encounters.

``Mikhail Gorbachev noted that the Soviet leadership attached much importance to the forthcoming Geneva summit and believed that if it passed in a constructive and businesslike spirit, it could help improve relations between the two countries and stabilize the world situation,`` the Tass release said.

Tass reiterated the Kremlin`s public strategy for the summit, that of

``preventing an arms race in space and ending it on earth.``

Reagan has said he seeks a broad summit agenda, including talks on regional conflicts, arms control, human rights and other elements affecting U.S.-Soviet bilateral relations.

During Shultz`s Kremlin meeting with Gorbachev, he was joined by Robert McFarlane, Reagan`s national security adviser, and Arthur Hartman, American ambassador in Moscow.

With Gorbachev were Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze, who hosted several other negotiating sessions with Shultz since Monday morning, and Soviet Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Dobrynin.

Shultz predicted that both leaders will be well-prepared and in top political form for the summit. ``It will be something of a spectator sport,`` he said. ``I`m looking forward to it.``